Police are asking for the public’s help in finding a suspect or suspects believed to have deliberately started brush fires Friday (August 23, 2002) in the Ka’u District.

Two brush fires were deliberately set in the Punalu’u area and two more were deliberately started in the Na’alehu area of Ka’u.

Police are seeking information from anyone who may have sighted vehicles or persons acting strangely about 1:45 p.m. Friday near the 57-mile marker of Hawaii Belt Road (Route 11) in Punalu’u or about 1:50 p.m. near the 62-mile marker in Naalehu.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Ka’u police at 939-2520 or the police non-emergency number at 935-3311.

Those who wish to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at 961-8300 in Hilo or 329-8181 in Kona. The numbers are answered 24 hours a day. Callers will be given a coded number and their identity will remain anonymous. Callers may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000 if their call leads to an arrest, indictment or the recovery of property. Crime Stoppers neither subscribes to “Caller ID,” nor does it record phone calls.